Japan's reverence for past gives new musical meaning to old appliances

The underground concourse of a Tokyo mall seemed an unprepossessing spot for an experimental ballet performance despite the smooth lump of abstract marble statuary and signs proclaiming the area a Street Museum.

Then the musicians trooped out bearing their instruments -- large and small old cathode-ray tube TVs crafted to resemble drums and shamisen, the three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument, along with a converted electric fan serving as another pseudo-string instrument, and a huge keytar-shaped keyboard covered in black and white stripes for a barcode scanner to read. The instruments produced electromagnetic waves that were transformed into an otherworldly sound and melody as ballet dancers leapt and twirled.